LG Chocolate (VX8500) Review: A Sweet Design
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By Allen Tsai
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Selling more than one million units globally in just eight weeks, the Chocolate has become a worldwide phenomenon. Enjoying significant success in South Korea -- and winning two global design awards for its innovative design -- LG decided to bring it stateside to Verizon. Not since the Motorola Razr has there been a phone that garnered so much attention and anticipation.
The Chocolate features an ultra-thin minimalist design with VCast Music and Video services, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD slot and access to VZ Navigator and turn-by-turn directions. The touch-sensitive keypad glows red, and the high-resolution screen redefines the parameters of style.
Debuted in London, the Chocolate continued its tour to China, Russia, Mexico, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey, Iran and U.A.E., sparking a buzz among trendsetters. And if past sales are any indication, the Chocolate is the phone of 2006.
Design
The ultra-thin minimalist style and sleek slide design is a work of art. At first sight, you may confuse it for a dark-colored iPod, since it offers similar elements -- a boxy exterior and a circular keypad.
But unlike Apple's music player, the Chocolate features a hidden display. And rather than buttons, the keypad responds to touch, glowing red when activated and becoming "invisible" when not in use. While circular in design, the five-Way keypad can't scroll like the iPod, either. The left features the volume and voice command keys, and the charger port. Meanwhile camera and power on/off buttons are located on the right -- with a music key and microSD slot nearby.
Slid open, the number pad is revealed along with the 1.3-megapixel lens on the back. When the Chocolate is closed, the top half protects the camera lens. On the bottom half, carrying holes let you attach a hand strap.
LG's attention to aesthetics is amazing. When closed, the display and touchpad are virtually invisible. The minimalist design is brought to life with one push of the thumb, suddenly illuminating the LCD and touchpad with a glowing red hue. The style and unorthodox design elements are sure to be popular. Out of the box, the Chocolate comes with a battery, travel charger, headset adapter and user manual.
Camera
The 1.3-megapixel camera is positioned on the back to protect the lens from accidental scratches. A mirror nearby lets you view where to aim during self-portraits or group shots. While not as impressive as the 2- and 3.2-megapixel devices, the Chocolate is nonetheless better than many VGA camera phones still being sold today.
The camera snaps photos up to 1,024-by-960 pixels in resolution -- mediocre among camera phones. Over 1,000 photos can be stored on the internal memory, encoded in JPG file format, each approximately 150-kilobytes in size. Lower resolutions include 640-by-480, 320-by-240, 176-by-144 and 160-by-120 pixels.
The navigation pad adjusts brightness (-9 to +9) and 2x digital zoom -- not supported at 1,280-by-960 pixels. Other features including self-timer (off, three, five and 10 seconds), white balance (auto, sunny, cloudy, tungsten and fluorescent), shutter sounds (shutter, silent, say cheese and ready 123) and color effects (normal, sepia, black and white, negative and solari).
Unfortunately, low light environments are problematic. There's night mode to enhance the photo via software, but it's a poor substitute for a built-in flash. In bright environments, quality is good with resolution high enough to make prints.
Switching to camcorder mode, the Chocolate takes 3G2 videos up to 176-by-144 pixels. Recorded at 15 frames per second, clips can last up to 15 seconds in "Flix message mode" or up to an amazing hour long in general mode. Camera functions such as white balance and brightness can also be applied to videos. Photo capture is excellent, but recorded video is grainy and too low in resolution for much use.
Basic Features
The dual-band Chocolate operates on Verizon's digital network, so rural areas where coverage may be lacking may be a concern if you rely on analog frequencies. The Chocolate is one of the first phones -- along with the LG VX8300 -- to feature a Flash-based interface. Developed with Adobe, you can change not only the menu colors, but also the entire home screen and menu layout with themes -- including a new circular format.
Strangely, the Chocolate lacks a speakerphone for calls -- something nearly that's in nearly all phones. Speakerphone is available for music and navigation, though, just not calls. Miscellaneous features include music only mode (RF off except Bluetooth) and standalone mode (RF off) for operation in airplanes, TTY/TDD support, and English and Spanish language support.
LG rated the battery at an impressive three and a half hours of talk time and 16 days of standby times under optimal conditions. Actual times will vary.
Screen
The "hidden" display is illuminated to reveal a brilliant 262,000 color LCD. Ideal for video streaming, the 2-inch 240-by-320 pixel screen is built from TFT technology, for more intense luminosity and faster refresh rates. Unfortunately, TFT also drains more power over other LCD technologies such as STN and OLED.
The Chocolate includes one of the largest and most vivid color canvases -- ideal for watching streaming videos. Most phones ship with 176-by-220 pixel displays, so the Chocolate offers superior clarity and color.
Audio
The music player is integrated with VCast Music and lets you view, download, and play high-quality digital tracks to listen to on the road.
You'll receive two copies the song -- one for the phone and one for a Windows XP PC. Songs cost $2 when purchased from the Chocolate, and at $1 when bought from a PC. But music bought from a PC will need to be converted to WMA files and transferred via USB cable -- sold separately.
VCast Music lets you buy songs from well-known artists at major music labels such as Warner Music Group, EMI Music, Universal and Sony/BMG, as well as indie provider The Orchard. More than a million songs are available for purchase.
Music is stored on removable microSD cards; ensuring you'll have plenty of space for long road trips. A 2.5-millimeter adaptor is included to let you use your own headphones for private listening.
As carriers begin adding music services, the convenience allows you to experience the versatility of mobile music. But the convenience comes at a price. Buying music from the Chocolate can add up quickly, so investing in a data cable and memory card is recommended.
Messaging
The backlit numeric keypad slides out to offer a large surface and separated keys for comfortable typing. All the messaging standards are here. You can send text through SMS, position layouts with EMS and attach photos, voice clips and videos through MMS.
Verizon also offers online services. Through Mobile IM, you can access popular instant messaging platforms such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo for real-time access with friends and family. Data charges may apply.
Entertainment
The Chocolate features a few essential apps like an alarm clock, calculator, calendar, Ez tip calc, notepad and world clock. You can also issue voice commands through the advanced voice recognition. After the initial training, you'll be able to perform commands with just the sound of your voice.
Saying "call (name)" or "send message to (name)" allows you to communicate without lifting a finger, while "go to (menu)" accesses any of the menus. Meanwhile, "check (item) looks for a wide range of items from messages and voicemail to phone status and volume levels. "Lookup (name)" finds contacts and "my account" lets you view your Verizon information.
There are even options to adjust sensitivity (high, medium and low) and prompts (prompts, readout and tones only). Overall, the voice recognition software provides more than typically found on mobile devices.
Through VCast Video, you can get live and prerecorded shows from popular shows such as ABC News, CNBC, MSNBC, Weather Channel, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox studio and Viacom's VH1 and Comedy Central. For a $15 monthly fee, you can receive unlimited access to more than 300 daily video clips. You can also subscribe and select preferences for your favorite content, receiving text alerts when new content becomes available.
With VZ Navigator, you can get real-time instructions to any address in the U.S., pointing lost customers to nearby landmarks, gas stations, banks, ATMs and over 14 million points nationwide. There's also maps and turn-by-turn navigation, so you can not only get written instructions, but also audible voice directions. VZ Navigator is only available for $10 a month, or for $3 a day.
For games, you can install Java-based apps through Brew, a platform for mobile devices. With several programs already developed, business users and gamers alike will be able to find mobile versions of popular PC apps and old 90s console games.
Internet
The Chocolate runs on Ev-Do network for 3G speeds at theoretical rates of up to 2.4-megabits per second -- but more realistic rates will be around 300- to 500-kilobits per second. As the backbone to Verizon's multimedia, Ev-Do provides the speeds necessary to support VCast Music and Video. It's available at more than 171 major metropolitan markets and 68 primary airports.
Storage
The Chocolate comes with 62- and 66-megabytes of memory. While large compared to other devices, free space may not be enough for music tracks or video clips. Fortunately, the Chocolate includes a microSD slot that can take cards up to 2-gigabytes in size -- plenty of storage for memory-intensive audio and imaging.
Connectivity
Through Bluetooth 1.1, consumers can connect with up to 20 compatible devices within a 30-foot radius. Compatible with various Bluetooth profiles, users can pair with headsets and handsfree car kits. The Chocolate can also emulate a serial port to offer send faxes, or become a modem to connect laptops to the Internet. A rather new feature, A2DP lets you listen to music through headphones. Other profiles include OPP to send files -- but limited to virtual business cards. OBEX is crippled so you can't transfer multimedia from a PC.
Conclusion
The Chocolate is a seductive phone that integrates many firsts. From its touch-sensitive keypad to the sleek exterior and hidden screen, the obvious aesthetic appeal is no wonder it was a best-seller overseas. It's gorgeous, but a bit pricey.
The 1.3-megapixel camera, music player, Ev-Do and Bluetooth, and Flash-based UI offer a complete multimedia package, offering strengths in imaging, audio, connectivity and usability.
However, some basic functions are curiously absent. The Chocolate lacks a camera flash, so photos are awful in dim lighting. And there's no speakerphone. Lastly, Verizon charges you for everything out of the box. There are few included accessories, so buy the music expansion pack and memory cards.
To unleash the multimedia, you'll have to pay a bit more on top of your monthly plan. VCast requires monthly fees or per item costs and data fees can add up quickly.
Regardless, the Chocolate is one of the few devices that combine fashion-forward design with robust functionality. There are a few drawbacks, but by and large, the Chocolate lives up to its tasty moniker.
Agree or disagree? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Share your experience and leave a comment below. ♦
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User Reviews
Very Unhappy
I got the LG Chocolate as my upgrade from Verizon in March 2007. I enjoyed it at first, the Verizon software was a little bit more enjoyable than the last Verizon phone I had (the Razr), pictures were much better quality, etc. Never had a problem with battery life! Best battery I've had with a Verizon phone. I always charge my phones regularly each night, and rarely would I drop below 4 bars in a day. Only at concerts or events where I take a lot of pictures or talk on the phone for a while does it lose one bar.
I had minor problems at first, but I could deal with those. Easily scratched front surface of the phone, calling people by accident, a lot of etc. touch pad issues.
However, by the end of the year (Christmas eve), the screen started going blank white, and would also reset itself randomly. So I brought it in and they traded it out for a new one under warranty. (This exact problem happened to my friend's Cherry Chocolate, screen went bright white and reset itself). That was 12 / 24 / 07 that they replaced it. This past week, when removing it from the charger, a metal piece from the charging port was yanked out with the charging cord. So I went in to replace it again. That particular Verizon store didn't have any extras on hand, so I had to go to a store 25 minutes away to get one because my battery was already on its 3rd day of not getting charged and I wasn't going to wait 2 days to get shipped one.
So I'm now on my third Chocolate in under one year, the second one lasting less than 2 months. This one I'm worried about as well.the top half seems a bit wobbly when it's slid up, and feels like it could become disconnected over time (leading to a repeat of the 1st problem), and the charger port seems resistant and when I try to remove it from the charger, some amount of force is required to pull the cord out, so I feel like there will be a repeat of the 2nd problem.
I am very unhappy with the quality of this phone now. I predict I will be back at the Verizon store very soon having to get it replaced again, and my upgrade is not until November. I hear the newer Chocolates with the spin wheel have been greatly improved with less problems. But I will probably go back to Motorola which I never had problems with before.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
The Madness Begins
For my birthday I recieved a White Chocolate. I was so excited! I plugged it in and started putting music and games on my phone. Well, at first my Chocolate was pretty cool. All my friends were complementing me on it and it just looked cool. But then I learned how horrible the Chocolate really is.
The first thing I found out was about the battery life. This phone can not go one day without being charged, I'm serious. It will die if you don't charge each and every single day over night.
The battery was bothersome but for the first couple months everything was ok. Then the Chocolate decided that it wasn't going to listen to me anymore, and the madness began.
I called my mom to ask her to come pick me up. She said yes and we hung up. I closed my Chocolate and while it was closed it opened up the "recent calls" file and clicked on my mom and called her back. My mom kept trying to talk to me but I couldn't talk back. I ended up just hanging up. For a while this happened just when I closed the phone, but then it started to just call people randomly while it was in my pocket. When it didn't call people by itself it had bad battery, but now it would die about half way through the day.
Then my Chocolate started playing music during class. I would be sitting there in latin and all the sudden "Love like winter" or "Maybe Misery" would start to play. A lot of people though someone was calling me, but my phone was just doing things by itself. This got my phone confinscated several times and got me many a detention.
After that my phone started doing other things by itself. Taking pictures of books in my backpack when it was in there, texting people things like "biiqdghjfifrhrgrghiu" or even testing out ringtones during math class.
In conclusion, if you would like a phone that doesn't have a mind of it's own this is not the phone for you. In fact, I don't know why anybody would want this phone because it will just turn on you and betray you. I am not the only one that has experienced this, my older sister had a black Chocolate and the same thing happened to her.
My parents replaced it with a voyager, although I am still stuck with my white Chocolate. I don't even bring this piece of junk to school anymore because its unpredictable. I can't wait until Febuary when I get a Samsung U340.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Nothing but problems
My first impression was great, however. I loved the styling. The size is amazing and perfect for a jacket pocket or purse. That's about all the "good" review I can muster for this phone.
I recieved my 1st chocolate phone August of 2006. Right away the battery life with music playing made me sick. Why design a phone to playback music if the battery is not strong enough to support the function for more than an hour?
Secondly, the voice functions button is in an inconvenient spot. More than once I have heard my phone in my pocket asking me to please say a command. I've changed the functions to unlock it from pressing once to twice but it still does it. Well, just shy of a year that phone died. The camera function stopped working and it would randomly shut itself off (not good for a work phone!).
I got a free manufacturer replacement of that phone a week before my year warranty ran out.
That replacement only went for 2.5 months before it quit working. This time the whole front touch pad stopped working. I could see that I was getting a call and I could answer it by opening the phone, but I couldn't hear anything. I couldnt view my contact list or text messages because of that lack of function.
I'm now on the first month of the 2nd replacement and already it is randomly shutting off. I'm just waiting for it to quit working.
As you can see, I've had nothing but bad problems with this phone.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Good phone!
I've had my chocolate for 2 weeks now and I absolutely love more about it than the old one.
but I have had some problems with it.
1. Easy to text
2. Awesome look to it
3. Great sound when talking
4. Long lasting battery
5. Vibrate action is great
6. The camera takes great pictures
1. Camcorder looks good while recording but when you watch it it looks bad
2. Speakerphone sucks I can't even hear on it
3. I have a huge scratch on it all the way up the screen and I never dropped it once!
4. The music essentials kit is hard to download!
5. When i'm taking pictures if you hit one wrong button it'll exit out of the picture area
But overall it's a good phone I love it! before I got that phone I had the Samsung phone that flips both ways. I didnt like it to much so Verizon told me to pick a new one out and i'm glad I chose the Chocolate.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Constant Disappointment
LG Cherry Chocolate phone -- only to be disappointed again, and again, and again, and again (and he's not the only one).
It wasn't too much more than a month into the new phone that the sound went out.
He got a replacement.
A few weeks later the new phone had the screen go black and die.
After this he decided to switch models -- if he and his friend are having these same problems, this is a serious product failure.
A little bit later the third phone bites the dust. I don't know about you, but my husband just doesn't need to be spending this much time in a Verizon store!
According to Verizon policy, you have to go through four of the same phones to be able to change styles. (This fact doesn't worry me too much; according to trend- we'll get there.)
Sure enough, today the phone blacked-out and turned itself off. It is dead. We've been anxoiusly waiting for him to come home (he had to work a little late), but instead he can go search down the Verizon store nearest to him and spend some time with his "new family" over there.
ARRGGHH!
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Don't waste your time
I got the Chocolate as soon as it came out and for a few months thought it was the best phone ever.
Now, about 5 months later, it's started to give me problems. I went to the Verizon store and the tech guy told me the problems i've been experiencing (ie, unstoppable scrolling through message inbox or contacts, sending of text messages before they're completed, automatic calling of the last person on recent calls list, and random turning off or restarting) are "normal for the chocolate".
They said they'll replace it for free, but chances are the problems are just going to keep coming back.
It's going to happen to you if you get one, so just don't waste your time. It's the most frustrating thing to have to deal with, and with one and a half years left to go with it, i'm not a happy customer.
PS: to the person who accused previous reviewers of "posting false information before reading the users manuel", the original chocolates DON'T have speakerphone unless the software is updated. maybe you should get your facts straight before being so quick as to call others ignorant.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
It's decent, but not perfect
I totally love the design of the chocolate. The menus make pretty much sense, so it's fairly simple to navigate. The keypad definately takes getting used to, though.
- The phone is delicate. Compared to my old Nokia (which was no frills, straight forward, press the keys really hard to make them work) this phone is like a piece of china. I'm afraid to set it down anywhere for fear that dirt will get into it and ruin it.
- The battery life is not even funny. My phone shut off today about 18 hours from when it was fully charged. Mind you, I played a bunch of music on it and I didn't turn off the EVO (or whatever it's called). But so far, I'm not impressed. My old phone would last for a week.
- The incompatability with a 2.5mm headphone jack is really annoying. The adapter that comes with the phone doesn't connect fully with the Jabra earpiece I bought.
- The access to the jack for charging the phone is inconvenient to hookup. Not something you could easily do in the dark as you remember to plug in your phone before you drift off.
I agree with previous postings that the phone provides a good combo of a lot of cool features -- GPS navigation, music, good resolution camera, sleek look, and my favourite: the option of a music alarm -- but doesn't provide the best of any of those services. It's no match for an ipod, and I have to say I'm tempted to go back to my no frills phone because I know it will last and this phone won't.
Oh one more thing -- today in the middle of playing a song the phone froze. That was frustrating. As someone else here explained, the only way to unfreeze was to take out the battery.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Not Perfect, But a Good Upgrade
I've had my green Chocolate for nearly a month now, and feel like I could write a book about it! Overall I am enjoying the phone but have run into many technical problems which required my best problem-solving skills, and some are still not solved.
MP3 Player: If you're trying to avoid carrying around too many electronic goodies, this phone can do it. I didn't want to have to carry an iPod and a phone, so the Chocolate was my compromise. I use the mp3 player a lot, as I walk for exercise and load audio books onto the phone to listen to while I walk.
Memory: Lots of memory, more than any other phone I have seen so far. There is 68MB of memory built into the phone; if you don't have a lot of extra stuff added in that gives you enough memory to take a one-hour video (which you then transfer to the sd card). While the 8600 is being touted as a flip version of the Chocolate, it only has 20MB of memory!
There is an additional 6MB of memory set aside for music to be loaded directly onto the phone. Add that to whatever you have loaded onto the memory card and that's a good sized bundle of mp3 memory available.
File Transfer: It's easy to move files onto the insertable memory card if you use a card reader. This applies to music, pix and flix.
Videos: Good quality videos, though it would have been nice to have a flash to take these in nighttime settings. VZW is not adequately advertising the fact that you can take up to one hour of video with this phone - a real treat. I have transferred my videos to my computer (on a Mac they are Quicktime files) and they are excellent quality. I have even paused playback and grabbed good-quality still photos from them.
Navigation: I like the navigation circle, but it would be handier if you could just press a number on your keyboard to get to different functions on the phone. Maybe this could be solved with a software upgrade?
Touchpad: No problems so far with this, it just takes some getting used to. I have noticed that if my hands are very dry or very cold I have to work harder to get it to recognize the pressure, especially on the exterior circle - the soft keys don't seem to be as much of a problem.
Battery Life: I use both the phone features and the mp3 player a lot so I bought the extended battery after reading other postings about short battery life. I also turned off EVDO since I find VCAST useless. Even with the extended battery it's not the greatest, but I usually plug it into the charger every time I get into the car anyway, so it hasn't been a major problem for me. I can walk for an hour, listen to mp3's, make phone calls and still have 3 bars showing at the end of the day.
I think we're expecting this phone to do a lot and still have the same battery life as phone-only or phone-picture-only phones. Until battery technology catches up with the features being offered on this phone we'll be struggling with this.
The only time I've run out of charge completely is while playing Sims 2, to which I admit total addiction!
Screen Resolution: Excellent! I am a bead artist, so I scanned some of my beadwork into my computer and made it into wallpaper - you can see every tiny bead clearly!
My son had an 8600 for about two days and when you compare the screen quality, the 8500 wins hands down (he now owns a Chocolate).
MP3 Player: Playlist length (50 entries) is short, would be better if it was 100+ per playlist. Creating playlists is a pain unless you are using something like BitPim to create them on your computer.
If you're a Mac user, you will end up with two lists of your mp3's, one of which is non-playable and will freeze the phone (these files are listed first and usually start with "._"), which can only be unfrozen by taking the out the battery and restarting. The second list is the playable list. I have tried every which way to delete the duplicate files (see my many postings on this forum) and just can't seem to get there. This means you must create playlists, especially if you wish to use the Shuffle feature as otherwise it will shuffle to the duplicate files and freeze the phone.
File Transfer: Again, if you have Mac, you get those double mp3 files; pix and flix seem to be unaffected. I've also read many postings from Windows users who have had difficulty getting the Music Essentials kit to work.
If you're not downloading them directly from Get It Now, ringtones and wallpapers (unless you create your own and put them into the pix folder) require a third party program, like BitPim. Playlists can also be created with BitPim and loaded back onto the card.
Videos: Length of videos depends on the amount of phone memory available, so if you have a lot of games, ringtones, etc. on your phone it will reduce the amount of video time, and you can't record directly onto the flash card, which would open up a lot of extra memory.
Conclusion: Though not perfect, this phone has been a good upgrade for me. I will be happier if / when VZW and LG get their collective acts together and recognize that they need to be supporting Macs better. (I never had mp3 problems with my Samsung.)
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Chocolate Is Good, Really Good.
I've had my chocolate for almost 2 weeks now, and I absolutely love everything about it! It feels sturdy and solid. The whole sliding thing is sort of new to me, but I love it.
I usually find myself opening it upside-down a lot because I personally think it's really comfortable to open it like that. The touch keys are way easy to get used to if you have / used to have an iPod. And the whole thing about "the oils from your fingers mess up the touchpad and the screen freezes".
Yeah right. I've had ZERO problems with it this far. And it's a newer Chocolate, which means it comes with speakerphone. I haven't gotten to try it out yet.
The charger cable feels very sturdy / non-flimsy when it's connected. Great camera picture quality. I've taken about 30 pictures with it so far, off and on usage, whenever I feel like it. Oh and also, since it's a newer Chocolate, you don't have to press a side button twice to unlock it when it's closed, you have the option of changing it to where you can press a button once or twice.
I have mine set to where I just have to press a side button once. So far, the battery life has been great! I've had to charge it once since I got. I've also increased the battery life by turning off EV-DO in the "secret menu", which is really only for VCast, which I didn't subscribe to (I prefer iTunes). Texting is really really easy, for me at least. I have no problems with the keypad.
- Easy texting
- Great camera
- Long battery life (I kept it on with o EV-DO for 4 days straight and lost 1 bar on the battery indicator, with regular text and call usage)
- No learning curve whatsoever! just barely touch it (when it's on the highest setting, which what mine is on)
- Sturdy feel
- Slider feels sturdy too, feels like it will never break
- When charger is plugged in, the connection feels sturdy
- Great sound quality
- Great speaker quality when you play music (I bought a 1gb micro sd card and I have about 100 songs on it)
- I like the themes, 'specially Rock and Roll (pretty much default I guess)
- The contact picture ID thing is awkward a little bit, you can't see the picture assigned to that person unless you do 2 things:
1. go into MY PIX and look at the picture
2. when the person calls you, the assigned picture shows you who's calling
I would like the contacts menu to show the pictures assigned to people next to their name in the menu... but this is probably the standard Verizon UI I would guess... ?
- The fingerprint problem, I really just get fingerprints on where the battery is, not much on the front
- And last con, video quality isn't all that great, so far...
Not much cons, lots of pros. Hope this review helps anyone, I highly recommend this phone, I LOVE IT!
Also, one of my friends has a Chocolate also, and he likes to BMX. He had his Chocolate in his pocket, he fell and sadly, landed on his Chocolate on concrete, and think about it, he probably weighs about 170 pounds. He pulled it out of his pocket, and zero cracks, no scratches, and overall his phone was still in perfect condition. I guess this goes to show you, and me, how durable and sturdy the Chocolate is.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
7/10
A quick review now that I've had the phone for just over 3 months.
The phone itself is great. Sound quality very good, screen is excellent. The camera is also very good, even in dim lighting. The touch pad works well once you get used to it. The buttons on the side can be a little tricky at times and I'll find myself cursing at the phone, but it's usually because I'm trying to do to many things at once. It also seems to be very durable. I work on construction sites which are not ideal locations for any cell phone, let alone one as fancy as the chocolate. I've dropped it about 3 times so far and it's constantly exposed to dust and it is still working fine. The face is slightly scratched but that is about it.
Bad things about the phone,
I have a sandisk 512 card which I was using for mp3's and I have since had to stop using it. I'm not sure if it's my phone, the card or a problem with all chocolates, but when the card is inserted it drains the battery in less than 12 hours whether I am accessing it or not. Take the card out and the battery will go for a couple of days. That is a major issue.
Also, if you want an ipod - BUY AN IPOD. This phone is certainly not remotely close to being able to take the place of the real deal. I still don't have an ipod because I originally thought this phone would get me by. The software is glitchy, the interface is clumsy and you can't use it with anything but headphones. If I had it to do all over I would pass on this phone and have used the extra money for a good flip phone with decent camera and gotten the ipod for my music.
Another problem is that as far as I can tell there is no way to get all your pictures to transfer in bulk onto the memory card. I take a lot of pictures with the phone and to have to transfer them one by one infuriates me.
On the whole I'd give the phone a 7 / 10 and say to pass on it unless you don't mind living with it's shortcomings
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Pretty Good
I got my chocolate about a week ago. I upgraded from a LG VX4400 and the differences are awsome. Since I have had the phone I keep finding more and more that I love about the chocolate, but there are some little things that I dislike.
- Good call reception
- Great look / desgn
- Loud external speaker
- Up to 2 gigs of micro sd memory expansion
- Easy to use interface. (reading manual helps alot)
- Decent 1.3 mega pixel camera
- Good battery life.
- Phone can be talked on with slide open and shut.
- Strong sturdy feel to the phone.
- VZW Deluxe ringtones and ringback tones can be downloaded from Get It Now.
- Power port a little tricky to plug into.
- Headphone adapter plugs in to power port on side of phone, and the design of the adapter is a little flimsy. Wouldnt work well for jogging.
- Touch screen is a little hard to get used to, but is cool once mastered.
- Doesnt come with any holster.
- Finer prints show heavily on phones black surface.
- No speaker phone.
- Can't figure out how to create ringtones.
In all I really enjoy this phone. The good really out weighs the bad with this phone. If I can just figure out how to create my own ring tones it will be perfect. I have recieved alot of compliments on the phone. I would suggest this phone to anyone looking for a sharp looking phone that doubles as a MP3 player.
Was this review helpful to you?5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Starting to dislike
I loved this phone so much when I first got it, but now I'm starting to really dislike this phone.
My first one, which I had for about a year and then it stopped charging on the regular charger and the touch pad would blink and go to texting and contacts on it's own, so I had to get a replacement phone.
I've had this one for about five months and now it's starting to call my last call in my phone while the keys are locked and it will go to my call commands. Also my music will play and then it will keep playing,but you can't hear it, so it goes in and out. So I'm going to have to go get myself a new phone that is not a chocolate.
I would not recommend it, but that is just my opinion.I give it a 4 out of 10.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Problems Galore
Where to start. I got this phone (the white one) a week and a day ago. Sure... it looks great. But...
I already had to get a new one sent to me. The screen started to go out tuesday!
Goes to a white screen then jest stops working.
Now it wont charge or turn on! This phone I have to say is the most poorly made phone yet by LG! It looks great yes, but the long term view on this phone looks sad!
I would love to know if anyone has had there chocolate over 2 months with out something going wrong with it?! I had an old LG The V. and I treated that phone like crap! Threw it around, dropped it in water, got dirt all inside it and it still works like the day I got it!
How come they cant keep the looks of this phone yet the great worksman ship of there old phones?!
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Like It!
I received my chocolate via Fed Ex yesterday! I like it! It has a very cool design. It fits perfect in the palm of my hand. The camera takes great pictures! I also like the video camera.
The touch sensitive Navication keys are hard to get use to. I open my calendar and contacts just about everytime I slide open the phone. There are a few things that I hope get better as more people get their phones.
I have tried to download ringtones and there aren't very many applications on the phone. I would definetly suggest buying the music essentials kit ($30) so you can make your own ringtones. I am sure more applications will be available soon.
The charger is different so that means I have to buy a new car charger. I recieved an adapter to hook normal earphones to the phone. I think they probably could have just gave us a normal hole or they could have sent earphones with it.
Anyway, I love it! I will be buying the music essentials kit! I hope this helps any of you! -Kelly
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
My 5th Chocolate
I wish it were true that Verizon would replace the Chocolate. I am on my 5th one. Maybe that's a Verizon scam to get you to use up more minutes, I don't know.
The Chocolate is too sensitive and will sometimes call someone while it's just in my pocket. And often I receive a call from someone in my phonebook, and it asks if I want to add them to my phonebook! It then beeps incessantly until I click "No".
It even does this when I call my voicemail. I have gone around and around with Verizon, where I have been a customer for many years, but they just say well we will send you another Chocolate.
No Customer Service means no repeat business. I have two Verizon accounts and three Verizon phones, but when the contract runs out this time I will dump Verizon for their indifference to customers. I'd like to get in on a class action suit.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Good Camera and Music
The Lg Chocolate VX8500 is a marvelous phone. I got it a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it. A few days later the VX8550 (Chocolate 2) came out and looked a lot better so I exchanged it.
From my opinion the Chocolate 2 beats the VX8500 by a long shot. But overall when I did have the VX8500 I was trully impressed with the camera quality and the music quality. I definately recommend this phone or even more the VX8550.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Power Problems
I was fairly happy with the LG chocolate when I first got it until a couple of weeks later I accidentaly dropped it on a tile floor.
What happened was that the screen cracked on the phone and had severe dents and I had to replace it. Also I had problems with the power of the battery and the numberpad. This phone looks good but everything else is just like a regular LG phone and from my incident I learned this phone is very fragile.
I give the LG Chocolate a 6 / 10.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
A lot of trouble
I got my LG VX8500 about 6 months ago and I liked it then. It was a great phone in the beginning...
But now it seems to be a lot of trouble for me. For the past couple of months, it's been acting up. When I open my phone via slider, it will automatically activate the mobile web, which I don't want to use.
Sometimes it will also continue going through my contact list and won't stop. When I press on the send button, it will sometime dial the last number without me touching the button again.
It will also not work every so often. I just received a replacement one about two weeks ago and now that one is acting up also.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Poor Battery Life
In addition to all the posts about battery life, I would just like to say that the new style of battery that the chocolate uses (the lithium-ion battery) is a lot better than the older style of battery, the ni-cad.
One Major Drawback! Do not charge your chocolate overnight! This slowly shortens the battery life on all phones but is very accelerated on the chocolate!
It sucks for me, because the regular battery had a standy battery life of a little over 2 hours, and I have to get a second extended battery because standy on the extended is max 7.5-8 hours. So if you planning to use the MP3 player. I would suggest buying 4 or 5 extended batteries. That's what you will need to make it last through the day.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Speakerphone
I have the same pros and cons of most everyone that has posted before me except for 1. There IS a speakerphone on the Chocolate.
When you dial a number or send a phone call a small speaker icon appears on the screen up where the camera button is on the side. The speakerphone option is the camera button, while you are in a call.
You people should really read the manual before you post misleading information.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Battery Life
Everyone's touting the features. So I'll just jump straight to the gripes...
I had the Chocolate for 3 days now. Battery is dead within 12 hours after a full charge. (even had Verizon replace the battery -- still dead after 12 hours).
Today I just left it sitting on my desk (after a full charge of the battery) and it was dead within 12 hours. No calls, no music playing, no picture taking, no screen. I just let it sit there, in standby.
A previous review said they have the same problem with the 512MB SanDisk chip installed. I have the same chip installed in my phone.
Another note... The touch pad is way too sensative (even with it turned all the way down). Way to easy to tap a wrong button by mistake.
Was this review helpful to you?4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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